EXCLUSIVE: The Israeli military is updating plans to attack Iran’s nuclear sites and is prepared to act independently, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Fox News.
Israel has identified numerous targets in Iran that would harm its ability to develop a nuclear bomb.
“If the world stops them before, it’s very good. But if not, we must stand independent and defend ourselves,” Gantz said in his first interview with an American outlet.
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Amid growing regional tensions over Iranian proxy actions and breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal, intelligence assessments suggest that Iran is likely to target Israel in proxy in Syria and Lebanon during 2021.
Gantz said the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah had hundreds of thousands of rockets. A classified map of targets shared with Fox News shows many of the rockets among civilian areas along the Israeli border.
“This is a target map. Each of them has been legally, operationally, intelligently checked and we are ready to fight,” Gantz added.
In a Fox News interview, Defense Secretary Benny Gantz shared a classified map of the locations of missiles controlled by the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
(Photo: Fox News)
The Israeli army’s annual intelligence briefing indicated that Israel was preparing for a few days of fighting with Hezbollah. Local media reports said 3,000 Libyan targets would be hit every day during the next conflict, with the aim of killing 300 Hezbollah fighters every 24 hours.
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Israel is expected to continue the strike of Iranian-backed groups in Syria, which Gantz said helps facilitate arms transfers to Lebanon.
According to Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, since the beginning of 2020, Israel has hit more than 500 sites in Syria with airstrikes in Syria.
Last week, US President Biden ordered an additional air strike in Syria following numerous rocket attacks against US interests in Iraq.
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While the Biden government has a willingness to return to the nuclear deal in Iran, Israeli officials from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Gantz believe that the issue of Iranian power of attorney should be addressed in any future agreement.
“American policy must be American policy, and Israeli policy must remain Israeli policy,” Gantz said.